What many pot-enthusiasts believed to be a cruel April Fool’s joke on the devil’s lettuce, ended up being a dream-turned-reality when Democratic, House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler’s Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act passed in the House of Representatives with a 220 to 204 majority vote on April 1.

On March 28, The University formally announced that they will be partnering with the State University of New York (SUNY), Orange County Community College in a joint articulation agreement that provides a seamless segway for SUNY Orange graduates to transfer to the University, remaining on track to earn their bachelor’s degree in four years.

As the two-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death approaches this May, the city of Minneapolis mourns another citizen taken at the hands of unwarranted police violence. Amir Locke, 22, was fatally shot on Feb. 2 when a SWAT team for the Minneapolis Police Department served a no-knock search warrant involving a homicide.

On Nov. 24, Travis McMichael, 35; his father, Gregory McMichael, 65; and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., 52, all white, were found guilty in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a black 25-year-old man.

On Nov. 29, Twitter announced that Jack Dorsey, Co-founder of Twitter, will be stepping down as the Chief Executive Officer. Twitter’s board of directors has appointed Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s previous chief technology officer since 2017 as his successor, a change that will be effective immediately.

Facebook announced on Oct. 28 that the corporation will now be called “Meta” and is planning to encroach on the next digital frontier called the “metaverse,” providing users the opportunity to game, work and communicate in virtual reality. Facebook’s individual acquisitions, including Instagram, Oculus VR, WhatsApp and others, will remain independent under the parent company, Meta.

In conjunction with the New York Blood Center (NYBC), the University’s National Biology Honor Society, Beta Beta Beta, also known as TriBeta, hosted the University’s first blood drive in five years on Oct. 25. The event anchored a remarkable milestone and initiative hoped to be implemented as a biannual legacy.

A former product manager at Facebook, Frances Haugen, has turned whistleblower, disclosing covert documentation revealing obscured ramifications that the tech giant has purposely concealed and denied to the public sector.

Content Warning: This article contains descriptions of gun violence and suicide. If you or someone you know is suffering from mental illness or is at risk of self-harm, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline for support at 800-273-8255. Help is available.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, sending the United States and its neighboring countries into a worldwide health crisis.

On April 1, the University announced that the fall 2021 semester will return to fully in-person classes, activities and events on all three of its campuses: Lower Manhattan, Pleasantville and White Plains.

On Dec. 11, 2020 the FDA authorized the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine for “Emergency Use,” to protect individuals 16 years of age and older against COVID-19.

In a press briefing on Feb. 8, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York City is re-opening indoor dining at 25 percent capacity on Feb. 12, two days earlier than originally scheduled.

President Joe Biden signed 17 new executive orders on his first day of office, five of which relate to Immigration Policy Reform.

Diving deep into the mind of 30-year-old Bruce Wayne’s early days as the masked vigilante, “The Batman” is a three-hour roller-coaster ride through the protagonist’s dark-twisted nightmare. Truly a sight for sore eyes, director Matt Reeves and producer Dylan Clark have painted a rainy and dreary Gotham City in bloody red; high off crime and riddled with corruption, atrocity and malice.

On March 22, 2021, Co-founder and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold an image of his first tweet on Twitter for a measly $2,915,835.47. The tweet read, “just setting up my twttr.,” which, symbolically enough, was posted on March 21, 2006, 15 years and one day earlier from the sale date. The proceeds from the transaction were donated to the non-profit organization, GiveDirectly, for their Africa relief fund supporting families economically affected by COVID-19.

On Nov. 28, social media was taken by storm by every pop-culture corporation, celebrity and consumer coping with the loss of fashion pioneer and creative genius, Virgil Abloh. Since 2019, Abloh had been privately battling a rare form of cancer called cardiac angiosarcoma and died at the age of 41. Abloh was much more than a husband, father, brother and beloved friend. His professional endeavors as a designer, in every sense of the word, produced disparate works that pushed the breaking point of cultural and racial intersectionality through the industries of music, fashion, architecture and more. His legacy and influence continues to motivate young artists across the globe, defining the epitome of limitless passion and possibility.

Premier designer brands are famously known to dispense five or more collections annually, revealing the newest trends in the alluring and beauteous fashion world. This year, Balenciaga was the exception.

Breaking away from the traditional fashion bandwagon, Balenciaga’s creative director Demna Gvasalia announced in Sept. 2020 that the designer brand would parcel seasonal collections once per year.

Alexander Wang, one of New York City’s elite fashion designers known for his exuberant post-Fashion Week parties, has faced multiple sexual assault and harassment claims spanning over the past four months.

Despite multiple accusations from multiple models and other personnel within the industry, the case had recently been “resolved,” according to civil-rights attorney Lisa Bloom, who was representing the 11 accusers who had come forth about Wang’s actions.

In the classroom, the ideal student is poised and academically engaged. But if you’re anything like the average student, you’ve lost count of the number of times you’ve daydreamed your way through a one-and-a-half-hour lecture; combing through what you’ll eat when you get home, what’s next on your laundry list and agenda or what you’ll wear for your weekend plans. The life of a college student is precarious, filled with ups and downs, happiness, sadness, stress and, if you get lucky, sex to help you decompress.

A universal language with endless combinations but different modes of strategy, challenging each individual that comes in its wake to push their logistical creativity to the forefront. Simply put, there is much more to the game of chess than what meets the eye.

University junior Abdul Abeshinbioke has made it his latest mission to evince the art of chess and the community it fosters by producing a documentary that will delineate New York City’s ill-acknowledged chess players. Specifically, players in Washington Square Park, or “the chess hustlers,” as they are known.

“Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor.”

Many will satirically mock Effie Trinket in Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games, but University students Matthew Hennion and Chris Angelis have quite literally used the odds of the pandemic in their favor to direct and produce their suspenseful short film, “INDIGO.”

As the summer season comes to an end, it’s fair to say there are those of us going through what Lana del Rey refers to as “Summertime Sadness.” And as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, but not for all of us.

While the summer may be ending, University junior Matt Schneider is just getting started. Alongside studying Integrated Marketing and Advertising at the University, Schneider brought his music career to fruition during 2021.